Lecture 10: Smart and connected products - II
Course code: DES641
Course name: Design for Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things
Dr Amar Behera
Email: amarkb@iitk.ac.in
Extension: 2401
Design Studio 605H-A
Diamond Jubilee Academic Complex
Learning Outcomes
• Identify key IoT characteristics, architecture and protocols in
designing smart and connected products
• Select sensors for use in the industrial internet of things (IIoT)
• Apply a set of design principles in developing smart products
What are sensors?
• A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the
purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon.
What do sensors do?
• The sensor attains a physical parameter
and converts it into a signal suitable for
processing (e.g. electrical, mechanical,
optical) the characteristics of any device
or material to detect the presence of a
particular physical quantity.
• The output of the sensor is a signal
which is converted to a human-
readable form like changes in
characteristics, changes in resistance,
capacitance, impedance, etc.
What do transducers
do?
• A transducer converts a signal
from one physical structure to
another.
• It converts one type of energy
into another type.
• It might be used as actuator in
various systems.
Transducer Operation
Classification of sensors
• Passive & Active
• Analog & discrete
• Scalar & vector
Classification of sensors
• Passive Sensor
• Detect the natural radiation or emission from the target or the
environment
• Cannot independently sense the input.
• Examples - Accelerometer, soil moisture, water level and temperature
sensors.
• Active Sensor
• Emit energy and measure the reflected or scattered signal
• Independently sense the input.
• Examples- Radar, sounder and laser altimeter sensors.
Classification of sensors
Classification of sensors
• Scalar sensor
• Detects the input parameter only based on its magnitude.
• The answer for the sensor is a function of magnitude of some input
parameter.
• Not affected by the direction of input parameters.
• Examples – temperature, gas, strain, color and smoke sensor.
• Vector sensor
• The response of the sensor depends on the magnitude of the direction
and orientation of input parameter.
• Examples – Accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetic field and motion
detector sensors.
Sensors in industry
Types of transducers
Transducers
• Thermistor– Temperature change is converted into output
resistance
• Potentiometer– Displacement change is converted into
output resistance
• Thermocouple– Temperature is measured by detecting
thermo-EMF between two dissimilar metal junctions.
• I to P converter– Converts current signal (4-20)mA into
proportional pressure signal (3-15)PSI
Transducers
• P to I Converter– Converts pressure signal into proportional
current output
• Piezo-Electric Crystal– Uses property of certain materials to
generate an electric charge in response to applied mechanical
stress and vice versa
• Strain Gauge– Converts force, pressure, tension, weight, etc.,
into a change in electrical resistance
• LVDT- Linear Variable Differential Transformer - Converts
change in small displacement into electrical output
• RTD- Resitive Temperature Device - Temperature change is
converted into output resistance
Actuators
Sensor characteristics: Static
• Accuracy
• Accuracy is the capability of measuring instruments to give a result close to the
true value of the measured quantity.
• It measures errors.
• It is measured by absolute and relative errors.
• Express the correctness of the output compared to a higher prior system.
• Absolute error = Measured value – True value
• Relative error = Absolute error/True value
• Range
• Gives the highest and the lowest value of the physical quantity within which the
sensor can actually sense.
• Beyond these values, there is no sense or no kind of response.
e.g. RTD for measurement of temperature has a range of -200°C to 800 °C
Sensor characteristics: Static
• Precision
• It is the capacity of a measuring instrument to give the same reading
when repetitively measuring the same quantity under the same
prescribed conditions
• It implies agreement between successive readings, NOT closeness to
the true value
• It is related to the variance of a set of measurements
• It is a necessary but not sufficient condition for accuracy
Sensor characteristics: Static
• Resolution
• Resolution is smallest incremental change in the input stimulus that a
sensor can detect and express in its output signal
• Indicates the level of detail or granularity with which a sensor can
measure
• Resolution is commonly expressed in terms of the least significant bit
(LSB), digits, or percentage of the full-scale range.
• The higher the resolution, better the precision
Determining resolution
• The resolution of a sensor is a key parameter that determines its ability to detect and differentiate between
small changes in the measured signal. When considering factors such as accretion and threshold, the
resolution can be understood through two primary aspects:
1. Threshold (or Sensitivity Threshold): This refers to the minimum detectable signal or smallest measurable
change that the sensor can reliably detect. It defines the lowest level of input that produces a discernible
output. For instance, in a temperature sensor, the threshold would be the smallest temperature change it
can detect. A lower threshold indicates higher sensitivity, enhancing the resolution of the sensor because it
can respond to finer variations in the measured parameter.
2. Accretion (or Incremental Measurement Capability): Accretion relates to the incremental steps or discrete
levels that the sensor can measure. It defines how finely the sensor can measure and represent the changes
in the input signal. For example, in a digital sensor, accretion is often limited by the number of bits in the
analog-to-digital converter (ADC), which determines how many discrete levels can be represented. The
higher the number of bits, the finer the accretion, and thus, the better the resolution. In an analog context,
accretion refers to the smallest increment that the sensor’s output can discern relative to its full scale.
• By combining a low threshold (high sensitivity) and fine accretion (small measurable increments), the
resolution of a sensor is maximized, allowing it to precisely measure and differentiate between very small
changes in the sensed environment.
Sensor characteristics: Static
• Sensitivity
• Sensitivity indicates the ratio of incremental change in the response of the system
with respect to incremental change in input parameters.
• It can be found from the slope of the output characteristics curve of a sensor.
• It is the smallest amount of difference in quantity that will change the instrument’s
reading.
• Linearity:
• The deviation of the sensor value curve from a particularly straight line.
• Linearity is determined by the calibration curve.
• The static calibration curve plots the output amplitude versus the input amplitude
under static conditions.
• A curve’s slope resemblance to a straight line describes linearity.
Sensor characteristics: Static
• Drift
• The difference in the measurement of the sensor from a specific reading
when kept at that value for a long period of time.
• Repeatability
• The deviation between measurements in a sequence under the same
conditions. The measurements have to be made under a short enough time
duration so as not to allow significant long-term drift.
Sensor characteristics: Dynamic
• Zero-order system
• The output shows a response to the input signal with no delay. It does not
include energy-storing elements.
• Ex. potentiometer measure, linear and rotary displacements.
• First-order system
• When the output approaches its final value gradually.
• Consists of an energy storage and dissipation element.
• Second-order system
• Complex output response.
• The output response of the sensor oscillates before steady state.
Controllers
Electrical sensors
• Electrical proximity sensors may be contact or non contact.
• Simple contact sensors operate by making the sensor and the
component complete an electrical circuit.
• Non- contact electrical proximity sensors rely on the electrical
principles of either induction for detecting metals or
capacitance for detecting non metals as well.
Light sensor
• A light sensor is also known as photo sensor
• Light dependent resistor or LDR is a simple light sensor
• The property of LDR is that its resistance is inversely proportional
to the intensity of the ambient light i.e. when the intensity of light
increases, it’s resistance decreases and vice-versa.
Touch sensor
• Detection of something like a touch of finger or a stylus is
known as touch sensor.
• They are classified into two types:
1.Resistive type
2.Capacitive type
• Today almost all modern touch sensors are of capacitive types.
• Because they are more accurate and have better signal to noise
ratio.
Range sensing sensors
• Range sensing detect how near or far a component is from the
sensing position, although they can also be used as proximity sensors.
• Distance or range sensors use non-contact analog techniques. Short
range sensing, between a few millimetres and a few hundred
millimetres is carried out using electrical capacitance, inductance and
magnetic technique.
• Longer range sensing is carried out using transmitted energy waves
of various types eg radio waves, sound waves and lasers.
Pneumatic sensors
• These proximity sensors operate by breaking or disturbing an
air flow.
• The pneumatic proximity sensor is an example of a contact
type sensor. These cannot be used where light components
may be blown away.
Optical sensor
• In their simplest form, optical
proximity sensors operate by
breaking a light beam which falls
onto a light sensitive device such as
a photocell.
• These are examples of non-contact
sensors.
• Care must be exercised with the
lighting environment of these
sensors for example optical sensors
can be blinded by flashes from arc
welding processes, airborne dust
and smoke clouds may impede light
transmission etc.
Speed sensor
• Sensor used for detecting the speed of any object or vehicle
which is in motion is known as speed sensor.
• Three main types –
• Eddy-current proximity, magnetic, and Hall-effect.
Example –
• Wind Speed Sensors
• Speedometer
• Ground Speed Radar
Temperature sensor
• Sensors which monitor and track the temperature and gives
temperature’s measurement as an electrical signal are termed
as temperature sensors.
• These electrical signals will be in the form of voltage and are
directly proportional to the temperature measurement .
PIR sensor
• PIR stands for passive infrared sensor and it is an electronic
sensor that is used for the tracking and measurement of
infrared (IR) light radiating from objects in its field of view and
is also known as Pyroelectric sensor.
• It is mainly used for detecting human motion and movement
detection .
Ultrasonic sensor
• The principle of ultrasonic sensor is similar to the working
principle of SONAR or RADAR in which the interpretation of
echoes from radio or sound waves to evaluate the attributes of
a target by generating the high frequency sound waves .
Summary
• Sensors are the backbone of IoT systems
• Sensors often work in conjunction with transducers
• Transducers convert signals from one form to another
• Sensors may be classified in various ways: analog or discrete, scalar or
vector, passive or active
• Sensors sense various physical variables such as force, light,
temperature, humidity, motion, etc.
• Controllers are used together with sensors to control physical systems
References/Bibliography
• Internet of Things with Raspberry Pi and Arduino, CRC Press
• Sensors in Internet of Things(IoT), Web article, geeksforgeeks
